McNicholas stadium lights fight lands in court

The coed Catholic high school in Mount Washington is appealing a Cincinnati Zoning Board of Appeals decision that says McNicholas High School’s Penn Station Stadium can be illuminated no more than 20 nights a calendar year.(Photo: File photo)

A dispute over how often Archbishop McNicholas High School sports teams can play under the lights at their stadium has landed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

The coed Catholic high school in Mount Washington is appealing a Cincinnati Zoning Board of Appeals decision that says the school’s Penn Station Stadium can be illuminated no more than 20 nights a calendar year.

Hamilton County Magistrate Michael Bachman has scheduled a conference on June 11 to establish some preliminary procedures and timelines for the appeal – which has some neighbors of the stadium crying foul. The neighbors are opposed to night lights or support the 20-night cap.

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McNicholas coach Mike Orlando talks with his team after football practice last August.(Photo: Enquirer File Photo)

McNicholas High School asked Cincinnati zoning officials last year to allow it to install field lights at Penn Station Stadium, which has not hosted a night game since it opened in 2010 on the school campus at 6536 Beechmont Ave.

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved the field lights in April, with conditions that include capping the number of night games at 20 annually.

McNicholas High School athletic officials thereafter announced that the first Friday night football game to be played under the lights would be on Aug. 24, when the Rockets host a home game against the Goshen High School Warriors.

Some neighbors of Penn Station Stadium – including Roger Zimmerman and Scott Fratianne, both of Spindlewick Lane – had hoped the high school would live with the 20-night cap.

Zimmerman and Fratianne said night games lead not only to more lights but to other disruptions such as noise. They also claimed that McNicholas High School has a history of caring little for its neighbors, which school officials dispute, and that the current dust-up has cost some residents unnecessary legal fees.

Hopes that McNicholas High School would abide by the cap were dashed days later, however, when the school appealed the condition in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

“Needless to say, we neighbors were upset and disappointed to learn this information from our attorney,” Zimmerman said.

But Shannon Kapp, director of marketing and communications at McNicholas High School, said 20 night games at Penn Station Stadium are not enough to accommodate all the sports teams at the school.

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McNicholas High School is appealing a zoning decision allowing them to play no more than 20 night games at its stadium a year.(Photo: The Enquirer/Scott Springer)

“This limitation unduly restricts all of our teams that would like to make occasional use of the stadium at night, which would include varsity football, boys soccer, girls soccer, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, boys track-and-field and girls track-and-field,” Kapp said.

“Thus, we are presently appealing that restriction and are optimistic about achieving a more reasonable limitation.”

In court papers, McNicholas High School has described a more reasonable limitation as 58 night games – the number Cincinnati zoning staff recommended in a report last year.

The school also says in court papers that the field lights it is installing at Penn Station Stadium operate with a state-of-the-art technology that keeps the lights from spilling onto nearby residential property.

“Archbishop McNicholas High School is looking forward to installing stadium lighting to enable our students to enjoy the full high school experience,” Kapp said.

And despite the criticism of some neighbors, Kapp said McNicholas High School has worked for the better part of a year with the neighborhood, the Mount Washington Community Council and the city of Cincinnati to find a solution that everyone can embrace.

“The school will continue to remain sensitive to the interests of all concerned,” Kapp said.